Ozark Center offers suicide prevention, awareness across community
Sep. 24—It didn't take long for the blank white canvas, propped atop an easel, to fill up with neatly written messages of inspiration and hope in a variety of attention-grabbing colors.
The canvas, and several others like it, were displayed at five Joplin locations throughout the day on Friday, and members of Ozark Center's Crisis Services encouraged folks passing by to stop and take a few moments to ink their thoughts.
Most didn't disappoint. Showing enthusiasm, they penned short but sweet messages on the canvas in shades of yellow, red, blue and pink — "You matter," "Believe in yourself" and "Keep on keeping on."
"There's been days where I've been down and it's always nice to read an (uplifting) message or hear a song that cheers you up," said Marla Gibson, who participated with Canvas of Hope event Friday morning. "I hope it helps."
The Joplin Green House Coffee Shop was the first stop on Friday's tour by Ozark Center officials, followed by hourlong visits to the Joplin Public Library and Freeman Hospital West, as well as campus visits at Ozark Christian College and Missouri Southern State University.
"We wanted to take this to the people," said Debbie Fitzgerald, who serves as Ozark Center's director of crisis services. "We're always active in providing services for those who are struggling, but we wanted to do something completely different this year."
What they came up with was a grassroots initiative dubbed "Canvas of Hope," which is an effort to boost public awareness concerning suicide prevention. Why is this important? In 2020, 32 lives were lost to suicide in Jasper, Newton, McDonald and Barton counties, according to Ozark Center data. Nationwide, Missouri ranks 16th in the nation for suicide deaths, losing 1,125 people each year. In 2018, 1,230 ended their lives.
Ozark Center officials hope the uplifting messages, written by local residents, would inspire and brighten the moods "of those who may be struggling with depression or thoughts of suicide," Fitzgerald said.
Aside from the shorter messages — "You matter" and "Choose life" — there were longer messages too. "Life is a roller coaster, with both ups and downs — hold on tight and don't let go," read one message. Another read: "It's just a bad day (and) not a bad life — hold on." Still another read: "Stay strong and reach out to friends and family" and ending with a heart and arrow sketch.
Suicide is the most preventable cause of death worldwide, Fitzgerald said. According to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, one person dies from suicide every 8.7 minutes — more than 125 men and women each day.
"We've just very excited to be able to be out in the community on a beautiful fall day and try to bring some messages of hope, because we know that everybody has a bad day," she said. "I like that this is really different from all of the other (September) events we've done over the last 20 years."
In 2020, for example, 41 blue and yellow lifeboats were launched in a pond in front of the Ozark Center facility facing 32nd Street — representing the 41 people in the area who ended their lives in 2019, leaving grieving loved ones in their wake.
By taking their suicide prevention messages "to the streets," so to speak, "this is where people in our community are just going about their daily lives and so we're catching a completely different group of people," Fitzgerald said.
The completed canvases with their inspirational messages will eventually be displayed in Ozark Center's various facilities located throughout Joplin, she said. At the five locations, free gifts were handed out — bracelets and cups, for example — that promoted the three-digit number, 988, which is the go-to number for Americans seeking mental health help. By dialing the universal number, anywhere and at anytime, they will be routed to a trained crisis specialist ready to provide supportive counseling.
"We just want people to know that the messages people are writing that people do care," Fitzgerald said. "There's hope here."